When asked to blog about an artwork I felt 'I wish I'd done', initially I felt quite over awed,
how could I possibly choose one piece of art from the many thousands I have seen and felt that small pang of creative jealousy over!?
The feeling of 'wow, why did I not think of that'.
After toiling over it for a while, I remembered a quote from my interview with Benjamin Wachenje.
The quote was regarding a piece he had done of his son.
He told me...'I had just turned down a job with the US army worth over $100,000. Since I had decided not to help them create recruitment posters I thought I had better make some pro-peace images. It really helped take my mind off the $100,000 I had kissed good bye too and made me consider how powerful art can be'.
The Image above is the one Ben referred to in his quote.
Now, my 'wish I'd done that' is more of a 'hope I could do that', meaning that if the chance arose that I could also be as true to my beliefs and uphold my integrity in such a way.
Considering the current financial climate around the world, to be upstanding and strong enough to turn down such a sum of money for doing something you love to do is a feat not found in many humans, and those that can do it, are of a moral fibre that is rarer than the proverbial rocking horse droppings.
In a point in history where I feel money is the main motivator of people and the thing that really does make the world go round, to be able to make such a choice would make me the a very proud man.
Without a doubt, money IS a motivator, after all its one of the main reasons people get out of bed in a morning, wether it be to go to work, or to 'sign on' at the job centre, making money is at the forefront of 90% the populations life long 'to do' list.
A person in the other 5% is a very rare find, so to feel like you belong within that small percentage would be an achievement in itself.
If I'm honest, and ask myself would I be able to turn down such an offer, I'm not sure I could, but I like to think I would.
Now if I refer to an actual piece of work 'I wish I'd done' im going to cite an image I came across last night on facebook of all places.
Its a political piece which in itself is not something I would consider, but this is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the awful Murder of Stephen Lawrence in London, in April 1993.
The creator of the piece is Mr Jon Daniel, working out of London.
Not only is the Image relevant, its important.
Done in such a simple way, but carries such an important message to not just those who remember the heinous nature of this racially motivated murder of a young man who did nothing to deserve having his life cut short but its done in such a minimal and simplistic way.
If a picture paints a thousand words, then here is the evidence.
This definantly gave me that creative 'jealousy pang' I mentioned earlier in my post.
The image has undertones of Noma Bar's work, one of the first Illustrators my tutor, Joanne Spicer, introduced me to on first joining the course, this is probably another reason it stood out to me.
Before I began my course, my choice for such a topic would probably have been an image of a transformer or Spiderman fighting with The Incredible Hulk, or a graffiti piece (not Banksy, thats a whole new blog post!) but since I started the course I have had my eyes opened to eclectic world of illustration and what Illustration actually is.
So there it is, not only what 'I wish I'd done, but what 'I hope I could do'.
